August 26, 2008
Jihadists blow up barber shop in northwest Pakistan
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022403.php
Opening soon in the North West Frontier Province
The Taliban soldiers on in the North West Frontier Province, defying the ban that was just put on the group. They don’t like barber shops because men run the risk of coming out of them clean-shaven, or with beards at least trimmed. All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence teach that shaving one’s beard is unlawful, except for the Shafi’is. The Imam Shafi’i wrote two treatises about the issue, saying in one that shaving the beard was unlawful, but in another that it was merely offensive.
In any case, when the Taliban notes that something is forbidden in Islam, they mean to enforce the prohibition. And the same thing could happen anywhere that Sharia is the highest law of the land, and those in power wish to bring the society fully into compliance with it.
“Blast destroys barber shop in Mardan,” from the Daily Times, August 26 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
MARDAN: A barber shop was destroyed in a bomb blast early on Monday. The blast also caused partial damage to several other buildings, including a private school. The local Taliban have been targeting barber shops, cinemas and music shops in the NWFP. They have also destroyed dozens of girls’ schools.
Including another one yesterday.
